Administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be universally recommended.

Sanchez-Manuel FJ, Lozano-García J, Seco-Gil JL

Published Online:

September 8, 2010

The use of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective hernia repair is currently a controversial issue. Although elective hernia repair is considered a clean procedure, the rate of postoperative wound infection in many countries exceeds the one expected for clean surgery, increasing discomfort in patients and health care expenses. In addition, antibiotics administration is not exempt of potential risks.
Controlled clinical trials on the use of antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair are scarce, the number of patients studied is low and the results are diverse. Based on the results of this meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials, administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be universally recommended. Neither can the administration be recommended when high rates of wound infection are observed.

Abstract (click to read)

Background:

The use of antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair is currently a controversial issue given the disparity among study results in this area.

Objectives:

The objective of this systematic review was to clarify the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in reducing postoperative wound infection rates in elective open inguinal hernia repair.

Search strategy:

In the present review, we searched for eligible trials in June 2009, using the search terms below. This revealed one new included trial (total of thirteen).
We searched the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group specialized register, by crossing the terms herni* and inguinal or groin and the terms antimicr* or antibiot* , as free text and MeSH terms. A similar search were performed in Medline and Embase was conducted using the following terms: #1 antibiotic* or antimicrob* or anti infecti* or antiinfecti*; #2 prophyla* or prevent*; #3 #1 and #2; #4 clean and (surgery or tech* or proced*); #5 herni*; #6 (wound infection) and #4; #7 #3 and (#4 or #5 or #6). Reference lists of the included studies were checked to identify additional studies.

Selection criteria:

Only randomized clinical trials were included.

Data collection and analysis:

Thirteen randomized clinical trials were identified. Seven of them used prosthetic material for hernia repair (hernioplasty) whereas the remaining studies did not (herniorraphy). Pooled and subgroup analysis were conducted depending on whether prosthetic material was or not used. A random effects model was used in the analysis.

Main results:

The total number of patients included was 6825 (prophylaxis group: 4188, control group: 2637). Overall infection rates were 2.8% and 3.9% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.64, 95%CI 0.48 - 0.85).
The subgroup of patients with herniorrhaphy had infection rates of 3.5% and 4.9% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51 - 1.00).
The subgroup of patients with hernioplasty had infection rates of 1.4% and 2.9% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.29 - 0.86).

Authors' conclusions:

Based on the results of this systematic review the administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be universally recommended. Neither can the administration be recommended against when high rates of wound infection are observed.

This record should be cited as:

Sanchez-Manuel FJ, Lozano-García J, Seco-Gil JL. Antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair.. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD003769. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003769.pub3

Assessed as up to date:

June 29, 2009

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Primary Review Group:

Colorectal Cancer Group

Health topics:

Gastroenterology > Non-neoplastic disease of the small & large bowel > Abdominal hernia

Cochrane Summaries^beta

Independent high-quality evidence for health care decision making

Administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be universally recommended.

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